


I Have Never Seen

by voleuse



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-08-25
Updated: 2005-08-25
Packaged: 2017-10-04 11:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>The sky is tired of flight</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Have Never Seen

**Author's Note:**

> Pre-series, no spoilers. Title and summary adapted from Craig Raine's _A Martian Sends a Postcard Home_.

"New passenger needs a run-through on the shuttle." Mal jabs his thumb over his shoulder. Then he's past and gone.

"Okay." Wash blinks. "I'll get right on that."

*

 

He knocks on the frame of the hatch, cranes his neck to peer inside.

The woman is smoothing the quilt on her bed. The color is dark, lush.

Wash averts his eyes until she speaks.

"Hello." She's smiling. "Are you the pilot?"

"Call me Wash." He steps in, offers his hand as an afterthought.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Her hand is soft, but her grip is firm. "My name is Inara."

"Inara." He lets the unfamiliar name roll over his tongue, even as the he eyes the various decorations littering the room. "You're a...ah. Right."

She's watching him carefully, so he clears his throat. Smiles as non-creepily as possible.

"So let's talk flight sequence."

*

 

With the captain's go-ahead, they take the shuttle out for a spin.

Inara's got a good handle for it, Wash thinks. She's shaky on the takeoff and acceleration, but she keeps the shuttle steady, and the turns are smooth. She'll learn.

By habit, his gaze drops down to the instrument panels, and pauses at the grip of her hands against the helm. Something's weird about it, and it takes him a minute to realize it's her nails, which are perfectly manicured.

"Wash?" Inara breaks into his contemplation, and when he looks at her, something is shuttered behind her eyes. "Is something the matter?"

"Nothing." He laughs, embarrassed. "Just a little startled by the manicure."

Inara lifts one hand off the helm, holds it up, fingers spread.

"Don't see much of that up here. Zoe," and he smiles the way that he can't help, when he thinks about her, "she's not much for things like that."

After a moment, he looks at Inara again, and her expression is open again, relaxed.

He clears his throat. "Do you mind if I ask why?"

She raises an eyebrow.

"Why our ship, I mean," he clarifies. "Why leave the core planets?"

She smiles, friendly and genuine and remote.

"I like seeing the stars," she replies.

Wash mulls it over, nods.

"Wouldn't know anyone who doesn't."


End file.
